


The Time Machine (is missing)

by Louzeyre



Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:21:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louzeyre/pseuds/Louzeyre
Summary: Someone's stole a Time Machine. Now Veronica, Logan and Wallace have been tasked with getting it back.A Timeless/ Veronica Mars Fusion
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Comments: 26
Kudos: 28





	1. A Pilot (or two) (I)

**Author's Note:**

> This is another story they has been brewing in my imagination for a while. Given that I already have a time travel universe going I was hesitant to post it, especially as there is already a Timeless crossover and I didn't want to step on anyone's toes. 
> 
> But, in honor of tropa-a-palooza I decided to try it. Given everything else I have going I don't know how often I will be able to update this, but as always I will try!
> 
> Please let me know what you think. Good or bad. Thank you.

Veronica woke up to the sound of her phone. Groggily reaching over to her nightstand she felt around without opening her eyes until she found the offending item. 

  
  


“Hello?” 

  
  


“Special Agent Mars! How quickly could you be ready?” 

  
  


Veronica sat up straight now fully awake at the sound of her boss’s voice. 

  
  


“Sir. What’s happened?”

  
  


“You’ve been requested personally to help with a case.” 

  
  


Veronica looked at the clock. It was 3 o’clock in the morning. 

  
  


“Sir, you know I’m still suspended?” She asked cautiously. She might be desperate to get back to work, but there was no sense in waking up and driving who knows where at this hour, only for him to remember and send her home after his morning coffee kicked in.

  
  


“Given that I was the one that suspended you I know all too well.” He told her. “Unfortunately, it seems like you have friends in high places and they care for the rules about as much as you do Mars, so you're unsuspended. Unless of course you would preferto stay suspended.” 

  
  


“No. Of course not, Sir.” She told him, jumping out of bed and grabbing something resembling clothes as quickly as possible.

“Wonderful.” He said. “At least now you’ll be Wiedman’s problem, not mine. I’ll text you the address.” 

  
  


****

  
  


The address, as it turned out, was just outside of town, in an area that had started its life as a warehouse district and now claimed to be light industry. At 4 o’clock in the morning it was eerily empty and pretty much exactly the sort of place where you could kill someone and bury their body under new construction with no one the wiser. 

  
  


Veronica paused for a moment as she got out of her car to consider just how badly her boss wanted her out of his field office.

  
  


At thebuilding’s entrance she was greeted by a woman who was about her age and in an equally no-nonsense pant suit. 

  
  


“Agent Wiedman?” 

  
  


“Oh, no. No. I’m Mac.” After a moment the woman – Mac --- seemed to realize she needed to expand on that introduction. “Agent Cindy Mackenzie. But everyone calls me Mac.” She gestured inside and Veronica found herself following her down a long corridor. “I usually work cybercrime.” She explained. “But today I’m mostly here to translate nerd for you and the other members of the task force.” 

  
  


“And the purpose of this task force is?” 

  
  


Mac grimaced slightly.

  
  


“I think it would probably be best to wait for the official explanation from someone who’s better equipped to tell it.” She paused at the end of the corridor. “Just, trust me. This is someone you want the full explanation for.” 

  
She opened a door into a fairly mundane conference room and waived Veronica in.

Two men were seated around the table at the room’s center. 

  
  


Both stood up as she entered and the older, taller one walked over and offered her his hand. She took it, and made an effort to look him in the eye, but her focus was still firmly stuck on the other man.

  
  


“Special Agent Mars. I’m Agent Wiedman of Homeland Security.” He then gestured toward the other man. “And this is Lieutenant Logan …”

  
  


“Echolls.” Veronica finished. Logan's face might have slimmed and his body filled out since the last time she saw him more than a decade ago but she would still recognize him anywhere.

  
  


“Lester, actually.” Logan corrected her with an apologetic smile. “My aunt thought it would be a good idea to change it when she adopted me. She thought it would Help me keep under the radar.” Veronica nodded. After what happened with his parents, that made sense.

  
  


“Lieutenant Lester is here from Naval intelligence.” Wiedman said, finishing his introduction. He studied the two of them a second then nodded between the two of them. “Is this going to be a problem?”

  
  


“No. Of course.” Veronica answered immediately.

Given that Veronica had no idea what “this” was she had no idea. But she did suspect that if there was a problem, she would be the end who ended up being sent home. And back onto suspension.

  
  


“Not for me.” Logan echoed. 

  
  


“Good. Because I would really prefer to keep both of you on the team.” 

  
  


“And what is that team exactly? Noone’s been very clear on that.” 

  
  


Wiedman frowned then grabbed the laptop still on the table, turning so that both Veronica and Logan could see the screen.

  
  


“This is from three hours ago.” Wiedman told them, then pressed play.

  
  


At first the screen simply showed a large open plan work area she presumed must be part of the warehouse. People were still sitting, working and talking at the various stations but aside from the fact they were still at the office at midnight, the only unusual thing about the set-up was that all the desks were turned to face an open area where a giant white ball thing sat. It reminded her of what one of those motion simulators rides they used to have at arcades. If Apple had designed it.

  
  


After a few seconds Later, four men entered the room. Almost immediately, three of them began shooting. A security guard shot back, hitting one of them before ultimately being hit himself and falling to the floor.

  
  


Once most of the employees were cowering under their desks, one of the still upright shooters grabbed an older employee and waved his gun in the man’s face. He then shoved the gun into the man’s back and forced him up the small staircase and into the white ball. The remaining shooter than grabbed with the man they’d walked in with. As the two reached the top of the stairs and were about to enter the pod, the second hostage turned and stared right into the camera, allowing it a clear view of his face for the first time. 

  
  


“Duncan?” 

  
  


As soon as the door to the white ball closed behind Duncan and his captor, there seemed to be some sort of glitch with the camera causing the ball To seem like it disappeared. 

  
  


Wiedman stopped the video.

  
  


“Mr. Kane disappeared from his family compound three days ago. Given his _…_ history, Mrs. Kane decided not to alert the authorities and to instead try to find him through private means. According to both Mrs. and Ms. Kane, they had had no contact with Duncan or leads as to his whereabouts until this video was taken. Our working theory is that Mr. Kane was abducted by the shooters in order to gain access to this building and is now their hostage.”

  
  


“Okay.” Veronica said slowly, still absorbing just what Agent Wiedman had shared. “But that doesn’t actually answer my question. What is so important about this building? Why would _Duncan_ have access too?”

  
  


“And where the hell did they go?” Logan interjected. 

  
  


“This building is headquarters for Burkanson Industry, of which the Kanes are major shareholders. All the Kane’s. As for where they went, I think you had better come with me.” Wiedman gestured for them to follow, and led them through another, all but hidden door.

The door led to another corridor. One that eventually opened up into the work area on the video.

Rather than the relatively quiet bank of desks, through, it was now a hive of activity. Some of that activity was clean-up from the attack, but there was also several machine toward the center of the room lowering something into the spot that the white pod had once occupied that that looked like its steampunk dystopian twin.

  
  


Wiedman threaded through the desks until he reached a man that was busily trying to tidy up his work station. Veronica remembered him from the video. He had had the sense to grab one of his shocked co-workers and pull them down underneath the desk. 

  
  


“Special Agent Mars, Lieutenant Lester, this is Wallace Fennel. Mr. Fennel is one of the engineers on this project. He will be acting as your pilot.” 

  
  


“Uh...” Logan raised one finger to interrupt. 

  
  


“I am well aware of your service record, Lieutenant Lester.” Wiedman cut him off. “However, the type of piloting you will need for this mission isn’t anything they teach you in flight school.” 

Logan looked less than convinced.

  
  


“Believe me man, I wish you could be the pilot instead of me,” Wallace added, earnestly.

  
  


“So, what _is_ this mysterious vehicle?” Veronica asked, hoping to get the conversation back on track.

  
  


“Okay”. Wallace said, “Have either of you ever heard of a closed time like curve?”

  
  


****

  
  


“This is a joke, right?” Veronica asked. 

“Or some kind of psych test?” Logan added.

  
  


Logan certainly felt like his sanity was being tested. First, he saw Veronica for the first time in years. Now he was being told that another one of his closest childhood friends had been kidnapped and brought back in time.

  
  


“Unfortunately, not.” Weidman told. He sounded just as fed up with all this as Logan felt., “Burkanson Industry created a time machine and didn’t bother to tell the government until it was stolen.” 

  
  


“But that isn’t… That isn’t possible.” Veronica said, still in shock.

  
  


“I know that it’s a lot to take in Special Agent Mars, but we’re really on the clock…”

  
  


“Why?” Logan interrupted. “If what you’re saying is true and these men have gone back to 1937 to change history, then they’ve changed it. Back in 1937. It’s done. Whatever they did is now the history we know.” 

  
  


“The mothership was created to give us something of a temporal grace period.” Fennel answered.

  
  


“How the hell would that work?” Veronica asked.

  
  


“When the mothership lands in another time.” Wallace pointed towards Logan, “Like 1937, it’s not really in our 1937. The act of traveling there creates a splinter in the timeline. As long as the mothership is there, they exist in a sort of pocket universe and all the changes they make to history are contained within it.”

  
  


“Then why do we care what they do? If it's just going to create a new timeline?” Veronica said.

  
  


“Because the new timeline is unstable.” Wallace explained. “As soon as the mothership returns to our time --- to our timeline --- the new timeline collapses and folds into the main timeline, changing it. Permanently.” 

  
  


“So, we have until the mothership returns to this time to go back to that time and stop them.” Logan said.

“Exactly.” Wallace confirmed.

“And we have to do it in that hunk of junk.” Logan said pointing toward the strange ball covered in giant bike gears.

Wallace Seemed less than pleased at Logan’s description.

  
  


“Alright, now that we’re all caught up,,” Wiedman said, “As I said before, we’re on the clock, so the three of you should probably get dressed.”


	2. A Pilot (or two) (II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who kudoed and commented! It really means a lot to me. 
> 
> I do have to confess I made a rather embarrassing mistake in the last chapter: I stated that they were going to 1938 when, in fact, they are going to 1937. And I said it like 4 times so I can't even really claim its a typo. I've since gone back and changed it, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter. I've made some changes to how the team operates compared to on Timeless to fit more with the Veronica Mars characters. I hope that isn't too distracting. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think --- good or bad. 
> 
> Stay Safe.

Wallace was re-re-re-checking his calculations when he felt the desk shift slightly and looked up to see Shae leaning next to him. She offered him a tentative smile and his copy of her report.

“How are you holding up?” She asked.

“Well, I’m not looking forward to going to 1937 New Jersey.” 

“Yeah. There really is literally no place in American history that'll be awesome for either of us.” She commiserated. “But I was actually asking more about the getting shot at and having your mentor kidnapped part of the morning.” 

Shae quietly reached over and placed her hand on top of his. He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them and turned his palm up, lacing their fingers together and pulled their now held hands below the desk. 

Burkanson didn’t technically have a policy against employee fraternization --- but after what had happened… well, they had both decided it might be better to keep their relationship quiet for a while. Just until they knew better where they were headed. 

“I’m numb mostly.” He confessed. 

“It almost makes me wish I had turned down Burton’s offer and gone on to law school.” 

“But then you wouldn’t have met me.” He offered, but the banter fell more than a bit flat. 

“I said almost.” She told him, then gave his hand a squeeze. They stayed there a minute or so. Just soaking in the moment. 

They had only managed actually gone on a couple of dates, but the two of them been dancing around each other for a lot longer than that. He hadn’t been ready then. And for some reason Shae had been willing to wait. Now…

Well he wasn’t too sure what was going to happen now. And he really wasn’t too sure about what was going to be happening after now. Time travel could be dangerous under the best of conditions. He knew that better than anyone. Not only were they were rushed this time, but they were about to chase after someone who actively wanted to stop them. And wasn’t afraid to kill.

“Are you sticking around until the launch?” 

“I’m sticking around until you’re safely back here and ready for a celebratory breakfast.” She told him, smiling slightly. “Or Lunch. Or drink.” 

“Can you do something for me?” He asked.

“That depends on where you’re taking me for dinner.” She joked.

He tried to give her a smile back, but what he could muster was pretty watery. 

“If I give you a letter, right before I go, could you get it to my brother. If something goes wrong.” 

“Nothing will go wrong; you are way too smart for that.” She told him. “But if it makes you feel better ---sure. Give me the letter.” She looked across the room then, and frowned slightly before reluctantly saying, “But I am supposed to brief your new team members.” 

Wallace followed her gaze to see that the two in question talking with the homeland security guy. Wallace gave her a reluctant smile.

“It probably would be better if they weren’t running around with no idea what we’re doing.” 

“I’ll make sure to see you right before you launch.” She told him. 

There was a moment, right then, where they both looked at each other, and there was just this feeling. Like they were right on the brink of something. Like they both wanted to edge past the self-imposed limits of their relationship and just kiss. 

Then the moment passed.

She gave his hand another squeeze, and unclasp their hands.

“Oh, and for the record,” She told him, “it wasn’t “almost” just because of you.” 

Wallace watched as Shae until she had reached the blonde F.B.I. Agent and the Lieutenant. 

Then he pulled up the word processing on his computer and stared at the screen, wondering what the hell he could possibly tell Darrell.

****

They dressed Logan in a three-piece suit and a fedora.

He thought he looked good. All things considering.

He would have preferred it if he had also been able to bring his modern service weapon. 

When he finally made his way out of the make-shift dressing room, he found Veronica waiting just outside. 

She didn’t see him at first, and he watched a moment as she stretched and moved her arms around in something like a demented chicken dance in an effort to test how much range of motion she could actually get in the skirt, blouse and coat they had given her.

“Are you doing alright there?” He asked, unable to keep himself from smirking. Just a little bit. 

Veronica finished the movement she had just started and stood up then purposely took a moment to straighten her clothes.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I just had every vaccination known to man pumped into me, along with a few that shouldn't be known to man anymore, and I’m apparently about to travel through time so, you know.”

Logan gave an understanding nod. 

“I’m still not sure this isn’t some kind of psych test.” He told her, then nodded towards the door to the larger portion of the warehouse. “Shall we.”

“Well, I did get all dressed up. Might as well.” She told him. They made their way to warehouse floor abs threaded through the maze of desks to where Wiedman was standing.

” Agent Wiedman.” Logan called out, as they approached. “Have you had any more luck in identifying the shooter?” 

“Only the one that was killed, unfortunately. Thomas Dohanic. Former Army Ranger. Did two tour in Iraq before being given a disability discharge for severe PTSD.” 

There was a tone in Wiedman’s voice as he said this that Logan recognized. Far too well. Logan would bet dollars to donuts that Wiedman was ex-military himself. 

Before Logan could ask any more, however, another woman about their age walked up to meet them holding a thick folder.

“Ahh, Agent Mars, Lieutenant Lester --- this is Ms. Shae Wardroe. She’s part of Burkanson’s Historic Research and Artifact Recovery team.” 

“Artifact Recovery?” Veronica said, “I’m guessing that’s code for stealing, right?” 

Logan didn’t remember Veronica being so much of pessimist. Then again, they’d been teenagers the last time they’d met. The woman --- Wardroe --- gave Veronica a steady, look.

“Well, the majority of the team are archaeology postdocs, so that’s certainly one way of interpreting their day job. But that’s not their job here, strictly speaking. Burkanson felt it would be advantageous to have people under contract that could perform archaeological excavations if needed.” 

“You mean excavate us.” Logan concluded. “If we do something as inconvenient as dying in the past and leaving anachronistic remains behind.” 

Ms. Wardroe gave a slight nod. 

“By my primary job is to try to make that a little less likely.” She told them. “Burkanson came to realize that it couldn’t simply send people into the past without giving them some idea of what to expect and how to act; they stood out too much.”

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. --- L. P. Hartley.” Logan replied. Shae smiled a little.

“That’s the idea. Although it’s more like the past is a hell of a lot of different countries and no one historian can truly know all the details of each of them. That’s why, Burkanson created an online think tank of historians from across the world.” She then said almost as an aside, “Not that they were told about the machine, obviously. They think they’re helping to develop an incredibly immersive video game. My job is to collate all of this information into a cohesive report and arrange for whatever additional lesson or materials might be needed.” 

“Lessons? Like, which fork to use?” Veronica ventured, grimacing slightly at the thought.

“Something like that. Of course, in this case we don’t have time for any of that. This is the best we’ve been able to manage on short notice.” Ms. Wardroe then opened her folder and handed Logan and Veronica a packet of papers each. 

They both took their packets and began glancing through it. 

“The Hindenburg? That’s what you think they’re going to try to change?” 

“That’s the best we could come up with. They landed in New Jersey on May 6, 1937 in New Jersey.” She pointed out. Which was true. What else would they be there for? Beside him, Veronica frowned as she rifled through her pages.

“There’s like three different theories as to why the Hindenburg caught fire here.” 

Wardroe gave her a sardonic smile.

“Welcome to working with Historians.” She said, she then pointed about midway down the page Veronica was staring at. “But the most likely and agreed upon theory is in bold. Read the briefs. Memorize them…” 

“Destroy them?” Veronica finished. 

“No, actually. There’s a compartment in the lifeboat to lock them in while you’re away. Once you and the mother ship return any changes to the timeline will appear to us, here, as though they have always been there. Only something you bring with you in the lifeboat will remain the same. We’ve made it policy to take two copies on each mission. One will go back to my department to study, so we track those changes and try to determine their effects while another will remain in the lifeboat to protect it from changes caused by further mission.” 

“Further mission?” Veronica said with some dismay. Wardroe didn’t seem to hear her, however. She was distracted by something --- or maybe someone? Across the room.

“Now, I’ll leave you, to finish getting ready.” She told them. “Good luck.” And took off towards what she had been distracted by.

Logan and Veronica turned back to their packets. 

Wiedman however, decided to get in one more jab before leaving them. 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about forks, Agent Mars.” Wiedman said, “I’ve read Lieutenant Lester’s dossier. I have no doubt he’ll be able to tell you which one to use.” 

****

Mac felt an odd combination of disbelief and awe as she heard the Burkanson technician start their count-down. 

Right after college she had been offered a job at Kane Software. She had turned them down. 

They had offered her an ungodly sum of money as a starting salary, but at the time it had seemed just a bit too soulless and soulless crushing to her post-adolescent idealistic self. 

Now she sort of wished she’d been a bit greedier. 

The technician reached one and she felt a rush of wind and a lot of flying papers. Then giant gear-covered pod disappeared before her eyes. 

There was a moment of silent shock, followed by cheers. 

Damn. Now she really wished she had been greedier.

****

After the launch, Clarence made his way back up towards the conference room that was serving as his office. 

He had only been there a few minutes when the door opened and in walked a young woman wearing an outfit which cost more than most people’s car. His included.

“You just missed Agent Mars and Lieutenant Lester, Ms. Kane.” He told her.

“I know. I was monitoring the launch.” She walked towards him, and looked over his shoulder at what he was reading. “I thought given the circumstances they should have any more distractions. And I tend to distracting.” 

Ms. Kane reached over then, and absently picked up one of the pages stacked on it.

“Should I be expecting visits from Burkanson’s other major stock holders?” 

She looked up and gave him a too perfect smile. 

“Mr. Mason and Mr. Burton are otherwise occupied.” She told him. Then looked back down at the page. “Did you tell them about the photos?” 

“No.” He said, pulling the page away from her. “I didn’t think they should have any more distractions.” 

“How very thoughtful.” She told him. She took a minute, looking around the conference room before adjusting her stance slightly and looking him right in the eye. 

“Now, Agent Wiedman. We could banter back and forth until the lifeboat came home, but I haven’t slept and we both know where we’ll end up. So why don’t we just cut to the chase. You tell me what you’ve really found out about the men who stole my brother and my time machine, and I’ll tell you why I think they did it. Sound good?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading! I really look forward to hearing what you think! 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> P.S. I am planning to change a few of the missions for various reason. Is there a particular time period not used in Timeless that you would want them to travel too? Let me know!


	3. A Pilot (or two) (III)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, so much, to everyone to has commented or kudoed.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Having a strong stomach was a necessity for Logan’s job.

For his former job.

But even he was feeling more than a little queasy by the time giant gears had quieted down and they had “landed”.

Strapped into the chair across from him, Veronica looked even greener around the gills then he felt, but she still managed to unbuckle her seatbelts and make it to the door before anyone else could.

To be honest, Logan half-expected (three-quarters expected? Seven-eighths expected?) that when the door opened, they would still be the warehouse. And everyone would be laughing at them.

Even after he had stepped out into the empty field with no snickering techies in sight, he didn’t quite believe they were in the past, until he looked up and saw a mammoth, swastika emblazoned dirigible in the sky almost directly above them. 

That was also the moment it truly sunk in what they were here to save. Not just a giant Nazi piloted balloon --- but what they might (and might not) come home to if they messed up.

Logan found himself just staring up at the ship as it passed overhead, letting that thought sink in. When he glanced over, he saw Veronica doing the same. After a few minutes, they both managed to ground themselves enough that they could start the trek towards the Lakehurst Naval Air Station along with the pilot.

“Okay.” Veronica said, once they were moving, “One thing I don’ t get. Apparently, this time machine works. So why don’t we just go back five minutes before the shooters stormed in—and shoot him in the face?”

“Well, first It wouldn’t work.” The pilot --- Logan remembered he had introduced himself as Wallace--- paused a second, as if trying to find a way to explain to us plebeians, “if something is back in time, while a change in the timeline occurs, it’s protected from the change. That’s why we keep copies of Shae’s briefings in the ship. If we went back five minutes, the shooters that stole the ship would still exist back in the 1937 pocket timeline they had created when they traveled back. When they came forward in the main timeline, that pocket timeline would still fold back into ours and the timeline would still change. We’d just also have two copies of the shooters. One that had traveled back and one that was shot in the face. Second, and maybe more importantly,”

“More important than the fact it wouldn’t work?” Logan jibed. He was more or less ignored.

“ _Second,_ you can’t go back to any time you already exist—to where you’d meet a double of yourself. It’s bad for the fabric of reality.”

“Define ‘bad.’” Veronica asked.

“Well, when we tried it, we were able to get the machine back. But the pilot … he was dead.” Wallace paused again. This time, through Logan got the feeling that he was trying to come up with _any_ words to describe what he had seen. Finally, he just said, “Very, _very_ dead.”

Veronica caught Logan’s eye and traded him a look with him, questioning what else they hadn’t been told about this mission.

They continued to walk a few minutes before Logan heard the sound of something coming up the road behind them.

Turning backwards, he saw it was a bus. Veronica had apparently heard it too, because she raised her hand and flagged it down.

****

Wallace tried to be a positive person. He really did. But as he stepped off of the bus, he couldn’t help feeling that he should be telling someone “I told you so,” and that that someone was his past himself.

“So, the back of the bus was amazing.” He said, oozing more sarcasm in in the one phrase then he usually used in a month. He saw both the FBI Agent and the Navy Lieutenant flinch slightly.

The bus hadn’t even gotten them all the way onto the base. Instead they found themselves walking the rest of the way and constantly checking the sky, and their watches.

More than a few times he got the sense that both the FBI Agent and the Lieutenant wanted to ask why they hadn’t set the time machine to arrive earlier and give themselves more time to get to the base before seeming to stop themselves.

He would like to believe this was because they trusted him and trusted he knew what he was doing. But he was pretty sure they were sick with hearing him try to explain how time travel worked in layman’s terms.

He sure was.

As they neared the base, the FBI Agent --- Veronica, he was pretty sure was her name --- started talking over the timeline for the “mission”.

The fact that he was _on_ something that could be referred to as a mission still seemed crazy to him. The only reason he had even trained to be a pilot was in case of an emergency.

He was a mechanical engineer for goodness sake. The only missions he was meant to go on were in video games.

“According to the brief the Hindenburg will throw down its mooring ropes, at exactly,7:21 p.m. The ground crew will drag the ropes through the wet grass, getting them soaked—”

“—Which electrically grounds the ship.” Wallace added, “The metal hull sparks, it ignites a leaking hydrogen balloon, burning 2000 cubic liters of gas.” Wallace grimaced. “Along with 36 people”

“That’s the prevailing theory.” The Lieutenant said. “About the electrical grounding.” He clarified. “Not the number of deaths. The first signs of fire were seen at 7:25 p.m. The whole thing was in flames within a minute.”

Logan, Wallace remembered, was how the Lieutenant had introduced himself. Wallace wasn’t sure if that was his first name, or last. Maybe it didn’t really matter if it was what he wanted to be known as. Hopefully they would catch the thieves and Wallace would never have to go on a mission again.

“That still doesn’t answer the larger question,” Veronica continued, “Why did the shooters bring Duncan _here_?”

“I think less that they brought Duncan here, than they needed to get here and they had to bring Duncan along to do that.” Logan pointed out.

“Again, why here?”

“Maybe they were Thrill Seekers fans?” Logan said, earning him a glare from Veronica. Logan let out a “Alright, they probably didn’t kidnap one of the heirs to the Kane Software billions and steal a time machine to become disaster tourists.” He added more seriously, “Two-thirds of the people on board originally survived. Maybe they’re planning on making sure everyone dies? Make a bad thing worse?”

It seemed as good a suggestion as any. Veronica seemed to agree, or at least agree enough to shrug and keep walking.

If getting _to_ the base had taken longer than they had planned, actually getting _onto it_ , turned out to be easier. Ridiculously easy, really, given that it was a Naval Air Base about to welcome an airship from a country that they would be at war with in less than five years. There was actually a crowd there already there, waiting to see the Hindenburg land.

There were a couple hundred ground crew too. Not to mention other base personnel.

Looking over the mass of people, Wallace couldn’t help but think it seemed like it would be next impossible to find their thieves among them. Especially since they weren’t exactly sure who they were looking for.

The Agent from Homeland Security had managed to take photos of the shooters from the security footage, but they weren’t really all that helpful. The two shooters seemed to know exactly where the cameras were and how to avoid them. The best that he could say was that they were about average height, maybe a bit better than average build with light skin and dark hair. Which seems like it _should_ be a lot, but half the people around the field could fit that description.

Still. Veronica and Logan were trying to scan the faces of the crowd, so Wallace did too. Hoping one of them would get lucky.

“There.” Logan said suddenly. Wallace followed the direction of Logan’s nod to a man in uniform. A man that Wallace was pretty damn sure wasn’t either of the shooters and definitely wasn’t Mr. Kane. “That’s Commander Rosendahl.” Logan said. “He’s in charge of the base.”

Given that they were time travelers sneaking onto a Naval Air Base, you would think this would be taken as a warning to stay away and make sure not to draw the Commander’s attention. Instead Veronica went marching right up to him.

This was going to be a long night.

“Excuse me? Commander Rosendahl? I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s urgent.” Veronica said, giving the Commander a smile even Wallace knew was deceptively sweet. And he’d only known Veronica for a few hours.

“Yes...?” The Commander asked. Veronica fanned out the photos of the shooters and Mr. Kane and showed them to the man.

“We believe these three men might be here to watch the landing tonight. It's very important we find them. Quickly.”

“And why’s that?”

Logan started to open his mouth as if to answer but Veronica quickly cut him off.

“He’s my brother, sir.” Veronica held up the photo of Duncan, and pitched her voice to sound concerned. Maybe even ever slightly hysterical. “We think he’s gotten himself in trouble. He got shell-shock, really bad. In the war.” She shook her head sadly. “He never really got over it. We think these men might have taken advantage of his delicate condition. Tricked him into helping them.” She pitched her voice slightly higher and sniffed. “He never would have helped them otherwise, you understand. I’m sure of it. Those other men, they have,” She lowered her voice, “Communist sympathies, you see.” She sniffed again, “And my poor sick brother,” Veronica turned and stared the Commander in the eye meaningfully. “He worked with ammunition, you see, when he was in the army.”

Logan walked over and wrapped his arm around Veronica, rubbing her arms as she feigned sobbed.

The Commander studied the display and gave a sympathetic grimace. Then he raised his hand and waved, catching the attention of the _other_ base personal. Wallace _really_ hoped Veronica knew what she was doing.

“Officers! Step forward!” He called out.

Several other uniformed men, all came over and huddled around.

“Sir?”

“These men,” The Commander said, holding out the three photos, “May be somewhere amongst this crowd. These two may be dangerous.” The Commander glanced towards Veronica, then pointed toward the photo of Mr. Kane. “And this one suffers from a nervous condition, his sister,” He nodded towards Veronica, “Has asked for our help.”

There were a few more instructions, then the Commander turned back towards Veronica, who greeted him in the same slightly higher pitched, and slightly tearful voice she had slipped into earlier.

“Oh, Thank you, Commander! Thank you so much.” She told him.

“It’s no problem, Miss.” The Commander told her.

Once the Commander had turned away to continue with his duties, it was like Veronica had flipped a switch, and was herself again. Wallace felt like he should be having some sort of contact emotional whip-lash but Veronica and Logan didn’t bat an eye.

“We only have five minutes.” She said.

Wallace took a steadying breath and looked at his watch, to make sure it lined up.

“We should split up.” Logan suggested.

Veronica gave a nod then turned to look at Wallace.

“Wallace?” Veronica said, turning to him “If you see the shooters or Duncan, don’t engage. Find Logan or I first?”

Now it was Wallace’s turn to nod. Logan and Veronica sped off in opposite directions, leaving him to go in the only direction left.

He got more than a few glares as he moved through the crowd. Even more than he got when he went into certain areas of Neptune.

The ship threw down its mooring ropes and Wallace felt like, somewhere, a countdown clock had started.

It felt wrong. Just standing there. It felt like he should be screaming at people to get down or run away. He felt like _he_ should be getting down or running away.

There was something else too. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on that felt off. Then again, he was in 1937 New Jersey, so pretty much everything about this day _should_ feel off.

He had made his way through the small knot of people closest to him and was about to circle back, when he saw the Lieutenant --- Logan --- running over towards him.

“Have you seen Veronica?” He asked.

“I --- no. Not since we split up.” Wallace told him.

Logan turned his head, looking over the crowd again. Wallace did too --- this time trying to find golden curls instead of a dark-haired man.

Veronica wasn’t anywhere he could see.

“Stay here,” Logan said abruptly. “I’m going to go find her.”

“Whoa.” Wallace said, grabbing his arm. “The entire reason we’re here is going to happen any minute now.” He pointed out. “She’s an FBI Agent, she can take care of herself.” He pointed out. “At least for,” Wallace looked down at his watch. For a moment all he could do was blink.

“Wallace?” Logan asked.

“It’s after 7:25 pm.” he said slowly. Logan stared at him for a moment before what Wallace was really saying sunk in. They both turned their heads and watched as dirigible that should be going up in flames right about now, gracefully made its way to the ground without a spark, fire or blast in sight.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen.” Wallace said finally.

“We need to find Veronica.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading, and being patient with this story.
> 
> I would really appreciate any feedback you might have. 
> 
> Finally, a note:  
> I originally was planning to follow the episode fairly closely, and just alter some dialogue etc. to reflect the differences in skills and personality between Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus and Veronica, Logan and Wallace. I realized, however, that 1) some of the small changes I had made already would impact the story (such as the fact that there was now one more hostage and one less shooter than in the show) and 2) I really didn't think the Kate Drummond story line would work here. While I can see Logan running off to save a badass blonde who is in trouble, I couldn't see him abandoning Veronica to do so. Even if they hadn't seen each other in years. She has badass blonde seniority. And without Kate, it didn't seem like the bar was necessary. 
> 
> There will be other changes along the way because of both these things... I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much. 
> 
> Anyway -- thank you and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	4. A PIlot (or two) (IV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who kudoed and commented. 
> 
> I know this moving a bit slowly and I'm thankful people have stuck with it. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think.

Veronica looked down at her watch.

“We only have five minutes.” She said.

“We should split up.” Logan said.

Veronica gave a nod, and turned to look at the pilot.

“Wallace?” He looked at her, and some part of her brain congratulated herself for getting his name right “If you see the shooters or Duncan, don’t engage. Find Logan or I first?”

While Wallace looks like he could probably handle himself better than the average nerd, Veronica would much rather have someone who had been trained take point. And someone who Duncan knew to be the one to try to bring him in.

Wallace nodded. Veronica caught Logan's gaze, and they silently decided to each go in opposite directions, leaving the small middle section they had both already done a cursory glance over for Wallace.

Hopefully that would keep him safe.

She had no idea what would happen if their ride home ended up dead.

Veronica moved through the crowd, studying each face and mentally comparing them to the photographs from Agent Wiedman. She would say it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, except that you knew when you actually found a needle in a bunch of hay. You knew what it looked like. It stuck out. This was more like trying to find a novelty sock you’d never seen before from someone else’s laundry pile. That was composed entirely of very similar novelty socks.

Which meant it took her pretty solidly by surprise when she did, see a person she recognized.

“Duncan?”

She kept her head down and quietly started to make her way over to where she had seen her former friend.

Duncan, thought, must have seen his own chance to escape, because before she had gotten close enough to even try to talk to him, she, Duncan separated from the crowd and took off towards the cluster of buildings on the edge of the field.

Veronica followed, keeping just far enough away not to spook him, she lost sight of him, momentarily, as he zig-zags between parked planes but barreled ahead after catching a glimpse of him again as he rounded around the large hangers, and into a smaller building.

She hurried after him, ducking into what seemed to be a storage building --- immediately blindsided as a man’s hand around her throat. He grabbed her around the collar, and shoved her head against the wall hard enough to leave her dazed.

She fought back. She was _trained_. But she’s also possibly concussed and the man who’s attacking her is not only trained but has several inches and quite a few pounds on her. He twisted her arm behind her and felt a zip tie close around her wrists.

She kicked back. She hit something too --- she hears him grunts, but apparently not what she hoped to because a second later, he kicked her knees out from under her.

With her hands tied behind her, she barely managed to twist around so that her face wasn’t the part of her body that lands first on the hard, concrete floor.

Pain radiated from the area that did hit, and it threw her off enough that her attacker had time to kneel down on her legs, pinning them.

She tried to throw him off. He’s too heavy. She felt another zip tie closing around her ankles.

He flipped her around, giving her her first clear view of what he looked like. He’s tallish and well built (but she already knew that), with dark hair and a profile that she’s willing to bet matches one of the shooters they’re looking for.

He put his hands under her armpits, and dragged her further into the building, then kneeled down over her. She moved to head butt him, but he pulled away.

“Stop. Back away from her.”

Logan.

Her attacker turned and gave a dismissive huff and he reached into his jacket.

A shot rang out, but missed biting into the floor beside her instead.

Logan’s second shot doesn’t miss and Veronica hears her attacker let out a yelp of pain.

Her attacker is still able to grab her, pulling her up to use as a human shield as he stands. Or at least as much of a shield as she could be given the aforementioned difference in height and weight.

That was when Veronica realized why her attacker had given a dismissive huff. Logan was holding a gun that looked like something from a steam-punk convention. Minus the punk part.

Logan doesn’t shoot.

There is this pause. It’s only a split second, but she can see it in his stance. In his face. He isn’t willing to risk hitting her. Her attacker saw it too and saw the advantage it gives him. He half shoved half tossed her towards Logan and their pilot.

Both men instinctively moved forward to catch her, giving her attacker the time to take off towards the back of the building.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She bit out. “Go after him!”

Logan didn’t exactly look like he believed her. But he still lowered her down --- gently ---onto the floor and Wallace sat down next to her placing his jacket under her head.

Then there was a loud clunk. All three of them turned to see that the door had snapped shut on them. No ---Someone had slammed the door shut on them.

Logan ran over and tried the handle. He slammed his shoulder into it several times. Then he turned and ran in the direction her attacker had gone.

Veronica heard a couple of soft thumps, followed by several louder ones.

A minute or so later Logan reappeared looking less than pleased.

“We’re locked in.”

“You couldn’t. You know…” Wallace mimed a kicking motion.

Logan shook his head.

“Tried. It's solid.” he told them.

Veronica took a moment to study Logan again and decided if he thought the door was too solid to kick down --- it probably was too solid to kick down.

Logan himself moved toward the door closer to them and seemed to be studying it. Veronica had already noted that there was a handle on the inside, no lock. Why, after all, would you want to lock yourself inside a storage building.

“We should start looking around. There might be something in here to jimmy the bolt.” Logan suggested. Wallace, stood up and joined him in examining the rest of the door

“We might be able to just take off the hinges.”

“Could we maybe _start_ with finding something to untie me.” Veronica said, with only a _little_ bit of acid in her voice.

Both men gave her a slightly apologetic smile. Logan came over and helped her to sit up against the wall, then put Wallace’s jacket back under her head. It wasn’t comfortable but it was at least a little less uncomfortable.

Wallace, meanwhile, seemed to have started the search. Hamade an excited noise and dove after something on the floor. When he stood, he was holding a black, boxy piece of tech that her attacker must have dropped when Logan shot him.

“Finally,” He said, “Some civilization in this backwater crap-hole.” he said, holding up the thingy. “I can rewire it to track the other walkie's signal, use it to find Flynn.”

Logan nodded. Veronica’s head felt a bit disconnected and fuzzy and her hands were starting to feel numb.

“Great.” She told him, “But, zip ties? Please.”

While Wallace focused on his new project, Logan began searching through the items around them for something sharp.

Veronica watched him, trying to focus on the distraction.

“I thought you navy guys would have better aim.” She finally said, nodding toward the mark on the floor where his first bullet had hit. He shot her a look as if asking “is _that_ what we’re talking about” but replied.

“I was trying not to hit you.” He said, “Plus, this thing isn’t exactly standard issue.”

Logan gestured towards the shoulder holster under his coat.

“Yeah. _What_ is that?” She asked him.

Logan frowned slightly.

“It’s a 1927 Colt .38. Wiedman dug it up for me to use.” He told her.

“Well, yeah. They gave me some pearl handled things that fit in my purse, but that’s not what I _brought_.” She told her with some exasperation.

“Wait,” He said slowly. “You brought a modern gun back with you?”

“Don’t give me that.” She said with a snort. “You just admitted that one of our thieves got away because of that thing.”

“Veronica, we are surrounded by Nazis. What if one of them takes your future gun to Berlin?”

“I can keep track of my weapon just fine, thank you.” She told him.

Then, in what she can only assume is the universe punishing her for her hubris, she looked around and realized her purse was missing. “Crap.”

“You lost your future gun, didn’t you?” Logan said. Veronica glared at him in response.

“Uh, guys? I think we have a problem.” Wallace announced.

“Other than the fact that we’re locked in a storage shed, history has already changed in unknown ways and Veronica losing a twenty-first century weapon in a 1937 Air base crawling with Nazis?” Logan said.

Veronica would have expected him to sound smugger. But mostly, he just sounded tired. She still intensified her glare.

“Oh, come on. He was obviously one of the shooters. He probably has a future gun of his own.”

“Actually, I meant this.” Wallace said, holding up the black box thingy. “Turns out I can't track Flynn with it, because this isn't actually a walkie. At least, not anymore.” He came over and held out the not -a-walkie out for them to see. “Someone soldered the lead wires. And then there's this thing.” As he pointed to the addition, Logan tensed beside her.

“That's a blasting cap.” Logan said, carefully taking the not-walkie from Wallace’s hands “This is a detonator.”

“For a... a bomb?” Wallace asked.

“But why?” Veronica asked, “The Hindenburg blew up on its own.”

Logan and Wallace shared a look that made Veronica suddenly feel like she was missing something very important. She didn’t like it.

“Right. About that.” Logan said, sighing. “The Hindenburg kind of landed.”

“Landed?” She said, “As in…”

“As in, on the ground. Safely. Without exploding.” Wallace added

“But that’s…” Veronica trailed off. That _should_ be good, right? It should be _good_ that thirty-six people hadn’t burned alive. But having this all end in something good didn’t feel right. And if they had made sure the ship _didn’t_ blow up, then why have a detonator? 

Suddenly it was like a puzzle piece fit into place that Veronica hadn’t even realized had been missing.

“I know what they’re planning.” Veronica said. “The ship is going to be completely booked on the return trip.” She swallowed, “Not only that, but booked with celebrities, dignities and all kinds of famous and potentially historically important people, traveling to see George VI’s coronation.”

Veronica’s shifted her gaze to look directly at Logan and Wallace

“What if they saved Hindenburg on the way in because they want to blow it up on the way out?”

****

Veronica pushed herself up slightly, readjusting her weight. It didn’t really help much in making her more comfortable, but at least it meant she was _doing_ something rather than just sitting there.

You would think that Navy Action Logan would have come with a knife as one of his accessories, but apparently Burkanson hadn’t thought to provide one and Logan, the boy who her father had been _so_ certain was a bad influence, was now so by the book that he hadn’t even considered breaking the rules and bringing his own, twenty-first century knife.

There also seemed like far fewer sharp objects in here than you would think would be inside a Navy airfield storage building.

They were taking too long.

According to the briefing they’d been asked to memorize, in the original timeline at least, the Hindenburg’s Captain had hoped to make as quick a turnaround as possible to try to make-up for their late arrival. He had been aiming for a midnight take-off.

She wondered if they would be able to hear the explosion from here if they weren’t able to get out in time.

“Hey,” Logan said, and held up something that might have been a piece of machinery in another life, but now looked like it just might be sharp enough to saw through her restraint.

“Oh,” She said with a sigh. “Finally.” Maybe they would manage to get out in time.

Logan moved over to her and started working the ties.

“So… did either of you two happen to memorize the schematics of the Hindenburg, so we could figure out the most likely place they might have put a bomb.” She asked.

“That would depend on what they wanted to do.” He then added, looking slightly embarrassed, “I originally wanted to be an aerospace engineer.”

The tie finally gave way and Veronica let out a long breath of sigh of relief. She rotated her shoulder a couple of times and pulled her arms into her lap, massaging the wrist to try and get feeling back into her hands, while Logan moved onto the other tie. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well, if they just want to bring down the ship, they could place it almost anywhere. Outside of maybe the smoking room, any flame could conceivably ignite the helium since we know there’s a leak. In the original timeline, the fire started in the stern, but it took less than a minute for it to engulf the entire ship.”

“But most of the passenger and crew survived in the original timeline.” Logan pointed out.

“Because the ship was about to land.” Wallace told them, “It was close enough to the ground that they could survive the fall and most of the passengers and a lot of the crew were already by the windows.”

“So, if someone wanted to make sure to take out as many of the passengers as possible…” Veronica said.

“All they’d need to do is wait until either the ship was high enough that no one could jump, or everyone for everyone to be asleep in their cabins, so they wouldn’t be able to get out in time.”

The last of the tie gave way and Veronica pulled her knees up and started massaging where it had been.

“Or,” Logan said, thoughtfully, “They could just set off the bomb in the main passenger deck to kill them directly and simply want the ensuing blaze to destroy all the evidence.”

“Or there’s that.”

****

When they finally manage to get out and make their way out to the landing field, the ship is loaded and ready to depart.

Even as they watched, the stairway began to fold up.

Veronica shared a look with Logan and looked over at Wallace quickly, but that was all she really had time for. She just hoped they were on the same page.

Then she sprinted towards the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again! 
> 
> I would love feedback... good or bad.


End file.
